Blair guru's daughter in row over bid to hand her safe seat

Debate: Georgia Gould at 16, is now contesting the seat of Erith and Thamesmead

A contest to take over a safe Labour seat is turning into a rerun of the worst days of the Blair- Brown party infighting.

One of the candidates on the Erith and Thamesmead shortlist is Georgia Gould, 22-year-old daughter of one of Tony Blair's closest advisers.

Her campaign, which was described yesterday as a New Labour stitch-up, is being masterminded by former Downing Street spin doctor Alastair Campbell.

Her chief opponent is union official Rachel Maskell, who is being backed by Mr Brown's former Press secretary Charlie Whelan.

Whoever wins is virtually certain to hold the East London seat at the next General Election, as current MP John Austin has a majority of 11,500. If Miss Gould is triumphant, she would be one of the youngest MPs of all time.

Miss Gould is the daughter of Lord Gould, who was Mr Blair's polling guru, and has an impeccable New Labour background.

She attended Lord Mandelson's former Oxford college of St Catherines, building up a formidable reputation as a brilliant debater, and now works part-time for Mr Blair's Faith Foundation.

Her mother is Gail Rebuck, the multimillionaire chief executive of Random House publishers - who paid Mr Campbell a reported £1million for his diaries.

The Goulds are close friends of Mr Campbell and his partner Fiona Millar, who is Cherie Blair's former adviser, and they regularly go on holiday together.

Mr Campbell is said to have personally hit the phones to secure support for Miss Gould, who has reportedly won backing from two wards.

Her supporters also include Baroness McDonagh, the former Labour general secretary, and her sister Siobhan, a Labour MP who was sacked as a whip last year after calling for a leadership challenge to Mr Brown.

Born into politics: Georgia as a baby with Neil Kinnock

One MP said last night: ' Everybody's talking about it being a stitch-up.

The New Labour machine has swung behind her, and nobody else has a look-in.' Retiring MP Mr Austin, 64, warned: 'There will be very strong local resentment if there is interference from outside'.

Lord Gould, given a peerage by Mr Blair for pioneering the focus group surveys used to mould New Labour in the 1980s, said his daughter was the victim of a smear campaign.

He said: 'It is absolutely untrue that she has had any preferential treatment. She is doing this on her own. I am hugely proud of her.'